Bogus refugees jailed

A Sinhalese couple who eloped from Colombo and landed in India pretending to be Tamil refugees were sent to jail on Sunday for illegally entering the country, police said.

The identity of Dushra Chandana, 30, and Sarooha Bilkani, 18, was revealed after they landed with 19 others in Rameswaram on Saturday, an official said.

According to police, the couple fled Colombo after relatives objected to their friendship and reached Vavuniya. Fearing arrest there, they fled to Tamil Nadu by boat claiming to be Tamil refugees “live happily ever after”, as an officer put it.

Since neither spoke Tamil, their ethnic origin was discovered.

Tamil Nadu authorities first separated them from Tamil refugees and on Sunday sent them to prison for violating the Indian Passports Act.

Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner P.M. Amza told IANS that the couple would be accorded all possible help.

“We are in touch with the couple through the Tamil Nadu Government and are in the process of providing them consular assistance,” he said.

ANS.